Black Lives Matter #DecolonizeLAcityHall demands: Fire Charlie Beck

Black Lives Matter LA and allies from Asian-Pacific Islanders for Black Lives, White People for Black Lives, various Chicano/Mexicano/Raza/indigenous organizations and others are well into the second month of #DecolonizeLAcityHall to #FireBeck, the LAPD chief who presides over the most murderous police agency in the country for what is the third year in a row. On Aug. 23, their attempt to get the LA Police Commission to address its responsibilities to oversee the department or to fire Charlie Beck, were treated as a disruption. The LAPC illegally cleared the auditorium inside LAPD headquarters, declared the public present as engaging in an unlawful assembly, and forced them out of the building under threat of arrest while the Board of Police Commissioners met privately inside in violation of the Brown Act requiring open meetings of such public bodies.

Meanwhile, the Black and Brown bodies of people shot down by LAPD continue to pile up, with the chief and the commission unwilling or unable to provide answers to grieving families. Even in the few cases, such as the police killing of Ezell Ford two years ago, where the LAPC has found the shootings “out of policy,” Beck has pledged to protect his officers “like a Kevlar vest,” and no penalties have been imposed by the LAPD or prosecutions initiated by DA Jackie Lacey.

#BLMLA has vowed to continue the encampment at City Hall, despite ongoing police harassment, until Mayor Eric Garcetti fires Beck in order to hold him accountable for the police murders he has allowed to continue on his watch. Garcetti and Beck had been out of the city for much of the #Decolonize presence, but are back now and continue to stonewall. A second Black member has been added to the Commission, but votes continue to be rubber stamp unanimous approval of LAPD policies and practices.